Body language gaffes that you should avoid in Job interview

Sep 18, 2017 15:22 IST

Balwant Tripathi

Body language gaffes that you should avoid in Job interview

In job interviews, answering all questions, possessing skills and qualification relevant to job, and having good work experience isn’t enough to win over your interviewer. Your interviewer would decide whether you’re fit for the job or not within 5 first minutes of the interview, observing you body language. It could cost you a lot if you make mistakes on the part of your body language.

To know what body language gaffes you should avoid making in job interviews and how to avoid them, keep the reading continue as here we enlisted 7 most common body language gaffes that often cause embarrassment to you in job interviews.

Bad Posture

You’reasked to sit when you enter the room of the interviewer. You begin leaning back or forward immediately after sitting on the chair. There is no surprise if your interviewer would perceive you as lazy or arrogant person, because leaning back or forward shows the lazy and arrogant behaviour. The interviewer would definitely consider you as lazy and inactive if you suddenly and heavily fall on the chair he offers you to sit on. So, to portray what can suit you interviewers, sit carefully and try to keep your spinal cord straight.

Eye contact

You begin replying to your interviewer as when as he begin asking you the same. You would fail to demonstrate your confidence and willpower if you fail to maintain and hold the eye contact with your interviewer. Don’t break it your till you complete your answer. But don’t stare at your interviewer as if you’re uncomfortable with him. During the course of replying your interviewer, try to hold your interviewers gaze for one or two extra seconds.

Raising fingers

You raise your fingers to prove your point when your interviewer asks you to explain something. Stop doing this immediately because you never know how would your interviewer interpret it. He may consider it an unprofessional or uncivilised behaviour and you might be perceived as unprofessional one. Apart from this, pointing out something with raising your fingers might end your discussion with interviewer in aggressive way. So, avoid it especially when you’re discussing and explaining something to your interviewer.

Putting arms on chest

You keep your both the arm crossed and cover your chest with it, especially when you sit before an interviewer. What is it looking like? Definitely, you’re ready to defend and resist your interviewer. How would your interviewer take it? He definitely will take it as ‘lack of confidence’. Don’t follow practising this, especially when you are engaged activities like job interviews. Keep your arms open as it reflects and tells how approachable you are.

Facial expressions

Your interviewer would understand that you have just memorised the answers if you don’t keep your facial expression in accordance with your reply. Sometimes, the nervousness, anxiety, and fear get surfaced on the faces of the candidates, especially when they are participating in job interviews. Moreover, they begin fumbling while replying to the questions of the interviewers. Be confident and try conveying your reply with appropriate facial expression.

Touching face and playing with face

If you habitually begin touching your face, and playing with your hairs in job interviews, then give up immediately doing this. It isn’t the place where no would observe and criticise this. And this isn’t your house where you can comfortably do this. It would look as if you aren’t paying heed to your interviewer. Your interviewer might count it as your unprofessional and uncivilised behaviour which could cost your job.

Inappropriate Handshake

You have all the questions your interviewer asked you in your job interview. Now, it’s time to have good handshake because you don’t want leave chance that cause your rejection. Try to have a firm handshake with interviewer but it shouldn’t be bone crushing. Don’t get into over handshaking by pumping hands more than three or four times as it might embarrass your interviewer. Make and hold the eye contact with your interviewer while shaking your hands with him.

Conclusion

In job interviews, body language is that thing which an interviewer looks at and observes in job interview. Most of the candidates continue making mistakes on part of their body language and fail to identify them, even after facing several rejections from interviewers. To help all such professional and to make them aware of their mistakes, we have provided seven most common body language mistakes that are made by the candidates in job interviews in this article.